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Holiday Trees

Nov 28, 2005
Author: James
Miscellaneous, Religion
Holiday Trees

Note that the Spanish translation below the English, stating that they now have fresh cut Cristmas Trees. I guess if they wanted to get generic, they need not worry about offending those of us that refuse to speak English.

Holiday trees… I guess this is signs that the winter solstice is fast approaching. I had better get out my holiday lights, and… WAIT A MINUTE! I thought this was CHRISTMAS.

I could CARE LESS, if the sight of the word Christmas disgusts you. This is a holiday for Christians, and I have a HUGE question for you. If you do not believe in God, if you do not consider yourself to be a Christian, what are you doing celebrating Christmas? I don’t celebrate Ramadan just because it exists, why would you celebrate Christmas just because it exists?

Why those of us should bend over and take it from those who find the very sight of the word “CHRISTMAS” repulsive, is beyond me. Why should I have to reshape my holiday, so YOU don’t get offended?

If anyone tells me to have a “Happy Holiday”, I fire right back with “And Merry Christmas to you!”, and not once has anyone spontaneously combusted in front of me by hearing those words.

Another thing that totally infuriates me during the Christmas season is the onslaught of lawsuits against businesses and government offices to tear down their Christmas displays.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Ok, now take a CLOSE look at that statement found in the Constitution of the United States of America. Does it mention ONCE, that Congress is not allowed to RECOGNIZE a religion? NO. What it DOES say, is that Congress cannot pass a law to display Christmas Trees on government property or public land… and as of today, they have yet to pass such a law, so what’s your problem? Also, take a close look at the second part of that statement, prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So you’re offended by my religion, and it’s public symbols during a time of celebration… so let’s petition our lawmakers to BAN the public display of my religious symbols… hmmm, that seems like it is a violation of our 1st Amendment rights. I have seen displays of Islamic symbols on public land during their holidays, I have seen plenty of Jewish symbols on public and government land during their holidays, and I have yet to hear of one lawsuit to ban the display of those symbols.

If you don’t like my holiday celebrations, DO NOT celebrate them, go on with your life, but let those of us that DO celebrate Christmas, do so without having to take one in the keester, so you won’t get OFFENDED.

14 Comments

  1. Scott  •  Nov 28, 2005 @11:23 AM

    AMEN! And I do so love the businesses that actively proclaim “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

  2. Pamela  •  Nov 28, 2005 @11:40 AM

    Hallelujah….somebody else who more than “get’s it” but has said it better than I’ve heard!! Now where is my Nativity scene so I can get it out in my front yard along with th 16 spotlights I should aim toward it…..

  3. John  •  Nov 28, 2005 @12:29 PM

    Maybe they’re just um…trying to increase sales by appealing to a broader market? Yeah that’s it! That is hilarious though that it says “Arboles de Navidad.” As if there’s no spanish speaking pagans!

    I’m currently undergoing an effort to make my house the most lit and obnoxious center of CHRISTmas offensiveness I can(afford.) Looks like I will be avoiding Lowes this Xmas and shopping at Home Depot, which so far doesn’t seem to have any problems with calling CHRISTmas, CHRISTmas. Great post James. Merry CHRISTmas!

  4. James  •  Nov 28, 2005 @1:12 PM

    …and a Merry Christmas to you too!

  5. John  •  Nov 28, 2005 @2:19 PM

    Maybe somebody could help me out on this because I want to make a sign for my front yard. How do you say “Merry Christmas” in Arabic?

  6. Libertarian Jason  •  Nov 28, 2005 @2:21 PM

    I could CARE LESS, if the sight of the word Christmas disgusts you. This is a holiday for Christians, and I have a HUGE question for you. If you do not believe in God, if you do not consider yourself to be a Christian, what are you doing celebrating Christmas?

    Well said, and I happen to ask the same question often to many of my non-Christian friends who stil celebrate. And, the truth be told, I am myself a non-christian, and do not celebrate the holiday for the fact that it is a Christian holiday. Like you point out…It’s kind of silly to celebrate a holiday from a religion to which one does not belong.

    Having said that, you must recognize the fact that, for most Americans, Christmas has no religious meaning whatsoever. Sure, all the religious propaganda aside, most people in America celebrate it as a cultural event, and a time to reflect on the past year, give thanks, show some generosity, and so on. Any religious element is simply incidental.

    Perhaps the fault lies with Christians themselves. After all, most Christmas traditions originated in pagan ritual. Kind of silly to honor pagan traditions when one claims to be a Christian, don’t you think? So when Christians allow their celebration of the birth of their lord and savior to be co-opted by pagan rituals and other secular trends and symbology (Santa Claus and whatnot), then on what grounds to they have to protest that their religion is being robbed from them?

    Newsflash: It already has been robbed from you! And you allowed it to happen.

  7. James  •  Nov 28, 2005 @2:39 PM

    Correction, it was not robbed FROM us, the Catholic Church has always had a longstanding policy, of adopting and adapting rituals from religions in regions they “convert”. In order to “ease the pain” of conversion, they were known to often adapt current celebrations to the local customs so that the people they were converting, were not totally left in the dark.

    Just look into the history of Halloween for a PERFECT example.

    While I see the point, Christmas wasn’t “stolen” by the Pegans, it was adopted and smooshed into the “Christmas” of the time.

  8. Libertarian Jason  •  Nov 28, 2005 @2:54 PM

    While I see the point, Christmas wasn’t “stolen” by the Pegans, it was adopted and smooshed into the “Christmas” of the time.

    Ok, I take your point… But the bottom line is, what we celebrate is Christian only in the most superficial sense. If Christians are really upset about losing what they feel is one of their most sacred holidays, then I think they should ask themselves what exactly are they losing? Is Christmas really what it is supposed to be? Or are you just losing a tradition that, as you even admit, is fundamentally pagan? If so, then wouldn’t the _true_ meaning of Christmas be better served by getting it back to its original meaning? Or is it supposed to be an event celebrated by engaging in pagan rituals? Should it be a truly Christian event, with Christian traditions and observances?

  9. James  •  Nov 28, 2005 @4:57 PM

    Well since I would presume it would be next to impossible to get things back to “the way they first were”, wouldn’t this be “splitting hairs”? :)

  10. Libertarian Jason  •  Nov 28, 2005 @6:38 PM

    Why impossible? Hard, yes… Impossible, no. What it requires is cultural change, and that means changing minds.

    It’s not impossible to change minds, is it?

  11. John  •  Nov 29, 2005 @12:39 PM

    Lowes backed off on this.

    The company responded in a statement: “To ensure consistency of our message and to avoid confusion among our customers, we are now referring to the trees only as ‘Christmas Trees.’ We have also removed a banner that read ‘Holiday Trees’ from the front of our stores.”

  12. James  •  Nov 29, 2005 @1:02 PM

    On a similar note, Fox news (well known for their fierce defense of all things Christmas) posted THIS article the other day.

  13. Sheri  •  Nov 27, 2006 @10:55 AM

    I am a total non-Christian and I love Christmas time! No matter what holiday or reason for celebration! If it is in good taste I am there! I was rasied in Birmingham, AL with a bunch of church goers who didn’t practice what they preached, so eh. Anyway, I liked what Jason was saying although I think he could have elaborated. I mean really, times change and things EVOLVE and adapt. As long and Christ-mas remains joyful, friendly and generous I guess it’s okay. My father brought me up to be like that all this time. And Jesus wasn’t even born in the winter. I mean really people. What happened to just celebrating the pagen stuff to celebrate life? Anyway, what-ev.

  14. Bet-Z  •  Dec 6, 2008 @2:41 PM

    Thank you for bringing up the fact that Jesus was not born in the winter. I am Christian but don’t celebrate and reject the idea that it is a Christian holiday. It does belong to the Pegan’s from which it originated. Christians when Jesus was on the earth and Christians for hundreds of years after did not celebrate Christmas and most of the other holidays. So it may be a modern day Christian holiday but I do not feel it is a holiday approved of by God. Why is this the time of giving? Shouldn’t everyday be that way? The Christmas tree, mistle toe, santa and many other Christmas rituals have nothing to do with Jesus but are done in his name. Where in the bible does he tell us to do this? If it isn’t in the bible then it is a tradition of man not a commandment of God. Holiday depression/suicide, people going broke to buy gifts, greedy people and some others who only care about the poor and unfortunate at this time of year and the man trampled by shoppers makes me wonder where Jesus fits into all of this. Is this holiday really something he would be part of?

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